Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a ceasefire and the start of peace negotiations, conditioning this move on the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and on Kiev’s commitment not to join NATO. Putin emphasized that this initiative aims at a total cessation of the conflict, not a simple freezing of the current situation.
“Today we are making a real proposal for peace, we are talking not about freezing the conflict but about its total cessation,” Putin declared. He then added an appeal to close the tragic chapter in history and to gradually restore relations with Ukraine and Europe. However, Putin also warned that if the West and Ukraine reject this proposal, they will bear responsibility for the continuation of hostilities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has flatly rejected Putin’s proposal, arguing that his promises cannot be trusted. He compared Putin’s approach to that of Hitler during the years before World War II, when the Nazi dictator made territorial demands under false pretenses of peace. Zelensky reiterated that Putin has changed his territorial demands several times, starting with Crimea and Donbass and now extending to other regions. He harshly condemned Putin, stating that he does not care about the lives of people involved in the conflict, describing this attitude as a new form of Nazism.
